ALEX Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT1 (1) 6 :

6 ) Compare ways individuals and groups in the local community and state lived in the past to how they live today. (Alabama)

•  Identifying past and present forms of communication

Examples: past—letter, radio, rotary-dial telephone

present—e-mail, television, cellular telephone

•  Identifying past and present types of apparel

•  Identifying past and present types of technology

Examples: past—record player, typewriter, wood-burning stove

present—compact diskette (CD) and digital video diskette (DVD) players, video cassette recorder (VCR), computer, microwave oven

•  Identifying past and present types of recreation

Examples: past—marbles, hopscotch, jump rope

present—video games, computer games

•  Identifying past and present primary sources

Examples: past—letters, newspapers

present—e-mail, Internet articles

[DLIT] (1) 14 :

8) Identify ways in which computing devices have impacted people's lives.

Example: Location services, instantaneous access to information.

[DLIT] (2) 13 :

7) List positive and negative impacts of digital communication.

Example: Anything posted or communicated electronically may be easily reproduced and could remain a positive or negative part of your digital identity/footprint.

Technology has changed the world faster than many of us could imagine and continues to change the world at a daunting pace. Technological advances have had a tremendous impact on goods, services, jobs, and markets over the last 50 years. The Internet and electronic communication have changed the way we do business. While people still use stores for many goods and services, people are able to place orders for rare or unusual goods that can be filled quickly, from the comfort of their home. Children born in the last decade often do not have an understanding of how things have changed. This lesson focuses on those changes and will introduce the students to some of those changes. Because of scarcity, we are not always able to satisfy our wants. We have to choose some things and give up others. Anytime we make a choice, there is something that is not chosen. The value of the next best alternative is called the opportunity cost. Every decision has an opportunity cost.

Students will examine and analyze photographs that show life in the past, list the objects and people in the photos, compare life and technology today to the past, and identify ways technology has changed or lives. Students will interview an adult to gain information about how goods, services, and technology have changed over time.